Ghosts From the Past.
The Goblin King was lying in his throne, toying with a crystal ball, his thoughts miles away. The goblins around him were singing and dancing, while one of them played on an instrument. However, none of this intruded on his thoughts, his thoughts that would never leave him alone.
"What would have happened? Why did she....?" he thought, a sadness echoing through his thoughts. He could not spend a single moment of the day without thinking of her. She had been his every waking thought since he had seen her in the crystal that fateful night. Her eyes were burned into his mind, the way she spoke, even the toss of her head when she was defying him.
Even though he knew it was hopeless, his mind turned constantly to that fateful moment when she said the words .... You have no power over me .... and she was right. He had no power, she was gone, he was here, trapped. She was far away, in another realm, never thinking of him. He felt so alone, lonelier than he had ever felt before he had met her.
Before, he had been quite content, ruling his castle, his kingdom, his labyrinth. Until she had come. She came, and destroyed everything. Now he was plagued by memories that hurt, hurt too much for him to bear. He no longer was able to enjoy anything, the taunting, the fighting; all his power in his kingdom meant nothing without her.
A noise intruded his thoughts - a goblin was shouting his name. Snarling, he said with even more anger than was characteristic of him, he reminded that he was not to be called by his name, but by his title. He could not suffer anyone to speak his name anymore, not since she had gone. How she controlled him still - the soft wondering look in her eyes when he was dancing with her at the ball was the only hope he ever had. Then she had defied him. He never wanted to hear his name again unless it was uttered by her.
The same voice shouted again, calling the King to listen to him. He realised he'd been away again; away in the past. He looked up at the goblin, and in a wearied voice asked, "Yes, what is it?".
The goblin lumbered over to the throne, and murmured that there was something in the crystal that was in the centre of the room.
The crystal that hung in the centre of the room was a mirror, a mirror into her world. He had given her a crystal, yet she had never held it, never touched it since that day, otherwise he would have seen her in this one. This was the only power he had in her realm anymore; she had denied him all else. He never knew if she had known that he had given it to her – it was his last gift.
Moving his head a fraction, he stared at the crystal, hoping, but not daring to believe that there would be anything there. It was too long. It had been ten years since she had been here, ten years since she had cast him under a spell more powerful than any other. She had not touched the crystal in all that time - she must have forgotten him, or worse still, she must have destroyed the crystal in her rage when she had returned to her realm.
Staring into the depths of the crystal, he saw nothing but velvet blackness. Nothing. He should have known. he was no longer a part of her life. he looked away and cursed at the goblin for raising his hopes, even for just a moment. The goblin looked amazed and said that there was, there had been something there - he had not imagined it.
But the King just shook his head and sank back in his chair - his former energy had dwindled into apathy - he no longer really cared about his kingdom. Before she had arrived, everyone quaked at the sound of his voice - all the denizens of his kingdom knew he was the king, and feared him. She had arrived, and changed all that. When she was here, she had so entranced him that he had begun to regret being feared and hated by all. When all he wanted to prove his love for her, his subjects showed her how they feared and hated him, showing her all she needed to know that he was not worthy of her. Just by being in his realm, and facing all his obstacles, she had shown herself to be more wonderful than he had ever experienced, and shown him to be the worthless man he was. Ever since she had uttered those words, those hateful words he had known how little he deserved her. He knew why she had rejected him. He was cruel, but then so was she. She knew that he loved her, but she showed contempt, scorned every plea - someone else would have tempered their words with kindness, but no she had spurned all that he had done for her, obeying her last wish, bringing her here, taking her brother. He played with the crystal in his hand, trying to capture the lights as her eyes had. Reflecting nothing but sunlight, he fell back into his reverie.
Ever since she had gone, he had tried to imagine how it would have been had she stayed; but he could not. He knew that she had rejected him, and would never have stayed - but still the thought lingered on. He had tried being kind to people, but they had just been suspicious and wondered what their King was up to, what trick he was planning next. So he gave up. It was easier this way; people thought he was cruel, so he fulfilled their ideals of him. However, unnoticed, he did try and help where he could - he still had some power here. But every time he nudged something to help others, it went wrong. Her power was still here; no matter what he did her presence was still here, rejecting his efforts, even when he tried to do good. Eventually he had sunk into apathy, knowing that if could not try and help others, he could do nothing, and then at least not harm anyone.
Again, the goblin's voice intruded on his thoughts.
"Yes, what is it!" he replied - he hated to be taken away from his thoughts, even if they were hopeless.
"The crystal, the crystal!" the goblin squealed, pointing at the sphere.
Slowly, the Goblin King raised his eyes once again and looked over at the crystal. What he saw made him jump to his feet, dropping the crystal in his hand, and allowing it to smash into a million pieces, and catching a rainbow of sunlight.
There was movement in the crystal.
Hope flared in his heart - was it? could it be? could it ever be her? It was just a shadow of a hand, holding the crystal in her world, in a darkly lit room - but he could not make out anything but a hand.His eyes were fixed on this sight, but just as suddenly as it had appeared, the hand was taken away, and the crystal once again was plunged into darkness.
Suddenly his eyes were dancing - she had not destroyed the crystal! It was still in her realm, intact. But as soon as his hopes had flared, a sinking darkness overtook him. It had been too long. It could not have been her - she would have forgotten him by now. He sank back into his throne, and put his head in his hands. The goblins around him looked at each other, and shook their heads. It's her fault, they said. He's never been the same since she was here.
It was evening, and Sarah was at home; her home. She had moved away from her father and her stepmother as soon as she came to college. She was studying acting, her dream, but it never seemed to mean anything. She did not understand why, as she had the life she had always hoped for, a friend who shared everything with her - a friend who tried to share too much. Jeff was her friend, her confidant, but he always tried to ruin it by asking for more than friendship. She wished could return his feelings for her, but something held her back. Someone. Someone she had only met for a few hours ten years ago. The Goblin King.
She lay on her bed, her arms around her knees, quietly thinking. She had vanquished him ten years ago, but he still had not left her thoughts. She could not understand why. He had been so cruel, so unthinking in his attempts to keep her in his kingdom, yet she could not stop thinking of him. He had been in her head ever since she had said those words. You have no power over me, she had said. How wrong she had been. He was still here, lurking in her thoughts all these long years. Why she thought of him, she could not understand – he had been so cruel, but nevertheless, all her waking thoughts involved him, what he was doing, what would have happened if she had relented and stayed with him. She could not even believe that she wondered what it would have been like to stay – he had been so cruel. Yet he had offered her everything, everything if she would have been his slave. Never! She would not submit to him – she despised all that he stood for, all the cruelty he had shown to his people. Yet still, she did wonder. She could have stayed and taught him better ways, and tried to make his world a better place. She was kidding herself, she knew that. If she had stayed, she would have been subject to each and every whim of his, forced to play out his games and have no power there.
Breaking into her thoughts, her brother knocked on the door. Even though she did not live with her parents, she still missed her brother – so for this weekend he had come round to see her. Her father had dropped him off, and made her promise to take good care of him. Her brother had needed a place to stay when her father and step-mother were away for the weekend, and since he was always welcome here, she had asked that he could come and visit.
Prying herself away from her daydreaming, she answered the door, and in came her brother, full of the boisterous energy only a young teenager could have.
"Sarah! Get up! Can we do something? Tell me a story" he cried, bouncing into the room and jumping on her bed.
Smiling at his energy, she wondered how he could be such a joyful child – he had never yet started his teenage angst years. She wondered if somehow, his time in the Labyrinth had affected him, and that he was somehow harmed by not following the normal course of teenage rebellion. However, she was glad that she could still be this close to him, and that he was full of energy – even him being in the same room was enough to lift her spirits.
"Well Toby, what kind of story?" she replied, trying to think desperately some tale to tell him that she had not before. He loved stories, especially when she told them. She always managed to make them interesting – none of this girlie romance stuff; she could tell adventure stories! Her time in the labyrinth had provided a lifetime of stories; stories that a teenage boy would love.
"Oh I don't know, something strange – a ghost story or maybe a goblin story!"
She flinched at his last choice – she could never be sure how much he remembered from his trip to the Goblin King's palace. All she knew was that he was an unusually happy child, with a love of stories. Hoping that it was nothing but chance that had prompted his words, she smiled and replied "Hmm….ghost stories…. Let me think."
She was dumbfounded for a minute, she couldn't think of a story involving ghosts; there were too many with goblins in them, and they all made her think of their king. She couldn't handle that just now – she needed to be fun for her brother and thinking of the king would just make her grumpy.
Looking around the bedroom, her eyes fell on the back cupboard where she stored everything she had not unpacked since moving here. It was piled full of boxes, and bags full of things that she couldn't remember packing. Hoping to divert Toby's cries for a story, she suggested they explore the cupboard, and see if a story came to her when they were tidying.
Toby, eyes full of glee consented to this – he loved to explore dark rooms and find things – and here was a whole cupboard of unknown objects! He could wait for a story for a little bit.
Opening the door, they looked into the cupboard and saw that there were a large number of boxes there. Pulling the topmost one down to the floor, she opened the flaps and found some of her toys from the old room. "How this one looks like Sir Didymus" she laughed to herself, remembering how he had been so kind to her. Putting the toy on the bed she delved further in and found more toys, toys which she had prized more than anything else when she had been younger. Toby looked at them, asking why she did not have them in her bedroom anymore as she used to. She just smiled and replied that toys were just for little girls, and she was all grown-up now. She had no need for toys any more. Toby just nodded and went on to the next box.
Later on, they had unpacked most of the boxes in the cupboard, the contents lying all over her room, with just a couple more left to sort. It was dark now, the sun had set and only the streetlights were illuminating her room. Toby was still playing with her things, but less energetically than he had before.
"Toby, it's time to go to bed – it's way past your bedtime!" she mock-scolded him. He yawned and replied that he'd like to stay up a bit longer as he hadn't seen her for ages, and their parents wouldn't know.
Always indulgent to her brother, she just smiled and said " Alright, but we just unpack one more box, then off to bed."
Gleefully smiling, Toby rushed into the cupboard and took out one of the last boxes. He thrust his arm inside and quickly took it out again – there was something cold inside of it. Saying this to Sarah, Toby again put his arm into the box to try and take the object out, but failed – it was too slippery and round.
Wondering what it could have been, Sarah took the box away from him, placed it on the floor in front of her and opened it up. There were clothes in the box, clothes that she had not worn for ten years – the dress that she had been wearing when acting out the scene from the Labyrinth where she recited those lines. A sudden far away look came into her eyes as she stroked the fabric, remembering the time she had said those lines for real, when she had not been wearing that dress. She was surprised that she felt any emotion but pleasure at saying them. He had been her enemy, and she had needed to defeat him, but this moment of triumph was not the happy event that she thought it was then – it seemed to her now to be cruel, heartless to dismiss him in that way. Shaking her head she reminded herself that what was done, was done, and there was no other option. His way of treating his subjects had proven that he was cruel – she just wished that she didn't have to have said it that way. Why she felt any sympathy, she couldn't understand, yet it was there, the same way that thoughts of him always were.
Annoyed with herself for allowing to think of him so easily, she shut the box and asked Toby to get another box from the cupboard – she would sort this one later. Thankful that this occupation of clearing out the cupboard had kept him from pestering her about a story, she was relieved that he had found another box – the last one. She was completely blank tonight – she couldn't think of a single story to tell Toby – she had probably been thinking of him too much today. Occupying her thoughts, the Goblin King had more power than she realised, even though she had denied him his power the last time she had seen him, she now knew that her words had been false.
Struggling with the last box, Toby dropped it in front of her and opened it. Inside was a large collection of her books, stories that she had read avidly as a kid. Pulling them out she sorted them into piles for keeping – the ones she still would like to read again, and others that she had outgrown. Toby picked up a few and noticed that some were action stories, and ones that he hadn't seen before. Excitedly, he asked her to read one of them to him as his bedtime story.
"Of course!…. Come on! Let's go to bed now and I'll read you it – I'll finish off this box and the other once you've gone to sleep." Thrilled, Toby ran from the room to wash up and get ready for bed. Sarah looked over her old things and thought that most of them would be better off in a new home with some younger kid, but there were a few she still wanted to keep – the toys that reminded her of the friends she had made in the Labyrinth. Not all of the realm had been bad, she admitted to herself. She had made friends there. Even though she had promised to call them, whenever she needed them, she had never dared to, in case the Goblin King would somehow break free and try to torment her again.
Hearing Toby's cry of "Ready!", she left the room and went to read his bedtime story.
It was now early morning in the realm of the Goblins. The Goblin King had not been able to sleep, as normal. He was rarely sleeping, if ever, and when he did his dreams were full of her. He could not get her out of his mind. If only there was a way to reach her, to at least see her, to know if she was alright. He knew that it would probably break his heart if she did, as she no doubt would have fallen for some guy worthy of her, and a mortal at that. He quivered with jealousy at this thought. He would… he would - no he couldn't. The older him would have had no second thought about destroying anything that stood in between him and her. But he couldn't now. Only a shadow of his former self remained – he had the veneer and the poise that could still terrorise, yet he found that lately he did not wish to exert this power over anyone. He could still be cruel, but it was no longer sport to him. Now when he was cruel, it was more because he was unthinking and distant.
The sunlight flooded the room. It was only a few hours earlier that he had seen the hand in the crystal – he had not been able to sleep at all. Possibilities were flying through his mind, wondering who it could have been, if it could have possibly been her…? He could not guess. All that he knew was that the crystal still was intact, and there was a slim hope that he would see her again, even just her face, for a moment. All of his pain would be worth it if he could see her face again for one moment.
Rising, and going into the throne room, he thought about what he could do. The room was empty, so he sat next to the great crystal, and stared into its depths. Maybe if she was there, and she looked into the crystal, she would see his face there, and possibly speak his name, and maybe call on him. That was the only way he could arrive in her world, was to be invited, but he knew that it was unlikely at best. There were too many maybes, and knowing her, she would not call him. She had no reason to – she despised him, and thought him cruel. Even though he knew this, the King sat there, still as a statue, thinking of the face burned into his memory.
Sarah had finished reading the story to her brother and now came back into her room. She had not the heart to continue the unpacking, as the last box to be opened contained the dress. The last time she had worn it was that day.
After defeating the King, she had been in a state of euphoria, yet tempered with a strange sadness. She had promised her friends from the other place that she would call on them, when she needed them, but she hadn't. What she didn't realise until much later was that the only person she really wanted to speak to was the King, to try and explain why she had to reject him that way. If she hadn't, he would have kept her his slave. For some reason, she felt she had to justify to herself why she couldn't have stayed. It was obvious why, but for some reason, it felt like she was trying to persuade herself that it had been the only thing to do. For is she had stayed… she couldn't imagine what attracted her to that thought, but it was there. And finally, after ten years, she admitted that she wished she could have stayed.
This came to her partially as a surprise, for she had been denying the fact for so long, it had almost become a mantra – I couldn't have stayed, he was cruel, he stole Toby. But tonight, after seeing the dress and the toys that reminded her of so much, she had to admit that she wished she could have stayed.
Going to the box of books, she noticed there were only a couple left in it. She picked them up and peered at them in the moonlight. Looking at the titles, she set them aside for Toby – he would enjoy them – apart from the last one. The last one sent a spark up through her arm when she touched the cover. It was her copy of Labyrinth.
Sitting down abruptly, she just stared at the book, wondering how it had been hiding here all these years. She had looked for it several times, yet here it was, in her hand. For a while, she sat there in the moonlight, holding the book, and drifting far away, towards a kingdom where goblins lived.
The King was still sitting in front of the crystal when the goblins came in. They were not surprised – he had sat that way many a night, peering and hoping. They just muttered to themselves that that girl had been no good, and just look at the kingdom, it was all falling to pieces around them. This much was true – the labyrinth was crumbling, but all the people who lived there could do was to try and stop it crumbling too much and hope that one day the King would sort it out. Many had heard of his apathy, and took advantage of this to try and take over the throne, but the goblins had been loyal – he was after all their king. He knew what was best, and if the kingdom crumbled, it was none of their business.
Still string into the crystal, the King thought of one thing only,…… her.
Still holding the book she stood, and reluctantly put it down on the desk and sighed. She wished she was there, there to be with her friends, and so that she could explain…. But what did she care? He had deserved it! He took Toby away and tried to keep him! But yet, she wanted to explain…. She was confused as to why she thought she needed to explain, yet she did.
Trying to ignore that line of thought she went over to the other box, the box with the dress. Opening it, she picked up the dress and held it up against her, looking at herself in the moonlight. It still would fit, she thought. Without thinking she tried it on, and was surprised she was right. Dancing in a circle in the room, she finally sat down to unpack the rest of the contents of the box.
There was a scrap of velvet in the corner, a scrap that she had not seen before. She picked it up, and noticed that it was covering something else, something round. Discarding the velvet, she picked up the object, and realised it was a crystal ball. Before she had realised what it was, she looked into it and saw the face of someone she remembered well. Him.
Almost giving up, the King spoke to the goblins. Then something caught the corner of his eye – there was movement in the crystal! Like a flash, he was there beside it, one word on him lips……. Sarah!
It was her! She was alive! She was well – and she was looking at him….. and she hadn't changed at all, except that she had grown into a breathtaking woman.
Her face in the ball was not clear – she was in the dark, yet he could make out every feature – the line of her mouth, and the sparkle in her eyes. Her expression told him that she was shocked; she had not expected to see him. For only a moment her face was there – the crystal went dark, almost immediately, but there was a spark of recognition that passed between them. His heart sang with joy at the sight – the sight he had longed for, for so long. But now that he had seen her, he knew that it couldn't be enough, he needed to be with her. His feelings were even more powerful now – and he knew that he could not live without her, in this crumbling kingdom. Before life had just been painful and pointless – but now he knew he could not live without her.
His face was the last thing she expected to see in the ball – almost immediately she dropped the ball back into the box. But not before a spark had gone through her body. An electrifying spark that seem to ignite all her senses, and make her yearn for something, something she could not define. How could I have seen him? she asked herself. This is only a crystal… but then – he always had them – the ballroom, the bubbles… they were all crystals. He had power to control what you saw through them – and he must have put one here. But why? Surely, he could not think to control her here?… but if that was not the case, then why? And why did she react the way she did? He was her enemy, she had defeated him, but yet the sight of him jotted her. And the sensation was worrying. It wasn't the horrifying feeling he had created when she had first met him, it was more of a, more of a... what it was she couldn't work out.
She sat there, hand on her book, and looking at the box that contained the crystal, trying to figure out why she felt so alive and energised – more than she had for years. She knew it was something to do with the spark, yet she couldn't figured out why seeing him would have that effect on her. Slowly, she realised that she didn't hate the King as she thought she had… yet still why it would affect her that way. Then it came to her. She cared for him. She loved him. She needed him. Suddenly, she felt an enormous weigh lift of her back – she had finally admitted it to herself. She loved him. She did not care what happened in the rest of the world, what would happen to her brother. She would go to live with him, in his castle, once she had told her brother everything. No-one else would miss her. All she knew was that she needed to be with him forever.
Engulfed with these new emotions, she reached into the box and picked up the crystal and held it up to her face. He was there, waiting, and looking for her. He had been waiting for her to find him, for her to find out that she loved him, even though she had destroyed him, he was still there waiting for her. Thinking back, those words were not as true as she had thought. "You have no power over me" she had said. How wrong she was. He had not left her thoughts since that day – he had ever power over her. She was in love with him, and no matter what he asked of her, she knew she would do it.
Looking deep into the crystal, seeing his face she breathed a single word.
Jareth….
Hearing his name, he revelled in the sweet sound of her voice… her voice told him everything he needed to know. Appearing beside her, in her realm, he stood in front of her and took her hand.
"Sarah…. Oh Sarah, how I've waited to see you again…. And now… can it be?"
She said nothing, just took his face into her hands and pressed her lips against his.